Carnival in Australia

[cruisin-m]

Carnival Spirit is an awesome cruise ship so I wouldn't let drinks packages or pre booking things spoil anything. The drinks on board are expensive but you are on holiday so I don't let the cost of a drink bother me.

 

Generally speaking Carnival Spirit is cheaper than RCCL and Celebrity so I guess they need to make their money up somehow.

I put it down to Carnival having so much on around the ship that actually made you feel like having a drink, that they don't offer drink packages, kind of like they don't have to when people will buy them anyway. For instance, on Spirit they have entertainment in every single bar on board every night and most nights two separate comedians on top of the main show. The other cruise lines that offer drinks packages have really little in comparison going on to make you feel like having a drink.

 

In saying this, it would be good if they offered the packages and pre-booking, might stop people from flowing over to the competition (hint,hint)

[jennyau]

Thanks for the advice. I'm looking forward to our cruise and the comparison.

 

I'd LOVE Carnival to take the hint!

 

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[Sapphire57]

I have found this thread quite interesting.

We have recently returned from 14 nights on Voyager (Royal Caribbean) and have booked 12 nights to South Pacific on Carnival Spirit. Have we done the right thing??

I can understand each line is different, that's one reason we wanted to try another. RC had good and bad points and so will Carnival.

Looks like lots of research coming up. Please feel free to ask me anything about Voyager. I will have lots of questions about Spirit.:)

[Chelseapop]

Carnival are actually owned by P&O so they are sailing under P&O rules/conditions - no drink packages and no boarding carrying alcohol. The Spirit's first sailing out out of Sydney did in fact run out of beer (on the second last night I think). We loved our cruise on the Spirit - the staff and service were exceptional. But it is touted as the 'family cruise ship' so expect a LOT of kids to be onboard. If you go on to the Carnival Australia facebook page you can ask any questions about who to contact for certain things like speciality restaurants etc.:)

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Carnival are actually owned by P&O so they are sailing under P&O rules/conditions - no drink packages and no boarding carrying alcohol. The Spirit's first sailing out out of Sydney did in fact run out of beer (on the second last night I think). We loved our cruise on the Spirit - the staff and service were exceptional. But it is touted as the 'family cruise ship' so expect a LOT of kids to be onboard. If you go on to the Carnival Australia facebook page you can ask any questions about who to contact for certain things like speciality restaurants etc.:)

 

I think you will find its the other way round. Carnival own P&O Australia. They also own the following..

 

AIDA Cruises, Germany

Carnival Cruise Lines, United States

Costa Cruises, Italy

Cunard Line, United Kingdom

Holland America Line, United States

Ibero Cruises, Spain

P&O Cruises, United Kingdom

P&O Cruises Australia, Australia

Princess Cruises, United States

Seabourn Cruise Line, United States

[fishtaco]

Carnival are actually owned by P&O so they are sailing under P&O rules/conditions - no drink packages and no boarding carrying alcohol. The Spirit's first sailing out out of Sydney did in fact run out of beer (on the second last night I think). We loved our cruise on the Spirit - the staff and service were exceptional. But it is touted as the 'family cruise ship' so expect a LOT of kids to be onboard. If you go on to the Carnival Australia facebook page you can ask any questions about who to contact for certain things like speciality restaurants etc.:)

 

Its the other way around! P&O is owned by Carnival and so is Princess.

 

Carnival is cruising under P&O Australia rules/ conditions because they "can" in USA they would go broke within a week if they tried these changes.

 

It seems to be that the word "Culture" keeps coming up re room service and Australians not tipping?

It is not a custom or culture in USA to receive free or included room service! Its just included on cruises so the Culture thing is a load of rubbish! because its a custom to tip even for paid for room service in USA.

 

The Alcohol rules and excuses for them like the Brimble case are total rubbish and put in place to make more profit! There is no problem with them trying to make more profit but they should announce it as such and not hide it behind a one death drug related smoke screen just because P&O did!

 

Carnival even the Australian Carnival can just as easy announce their world track record re Alcohol same as Royal Caribbean can while sailing Australia cruises.

Edited April 26, 2014 by fishtaco

[TeamH]

I'm sure you'll have a fabulous time regardless. So jealous you're on another cruise so soon, not a day goes by without son #1 mentioning cruising so I'm sure it'll be I the not too distant future.

 

A colleague just returned from a cruise on Carnival Spirit and she raved about it. It was her first so she didn't have the fabulous Radiance to compare her to though ;)

[Chelseapop]

OK I had them the wrong way around as to who owns who (my boo boo), but my point is still the same. They are running the two lines the same way - no grog packages etc. If you are aware of that before you book your cruise with either Carnival or P&O I can't really see the problem. And by the amount of pizza boxes and food trays that usually lined the hallways at all hours I don't think the cost of room service put too many people off ordering it either.

[Yillup]

OK I had them the wrong way around as to who owns who (my boo boo), but my point is still the same. They are running the two lines the same way - no grog packages etc. If you are aware of that before you book your cruise with either Carnival or P&O I can't really see the problem. And by the amount of pizza boxes and food trays that usually lined the hallways at all hours I don't think the cost of room service put too many people off ordering it either.

 

 

That makes no sense whatsoever. If you're going to draw parallels between two brands, it would seem more logical for the two brands that are named the same (Carnival) would be the most similar. And that is definitely not the case. By your logic all brands owned by the one group should identical.

 

Carnival in America has so many advantages that we here in Australia cannot access. And it's got absolutely nothing to do with "culture", "law" or anything other than what they feel they can get away with. Other lines operating in Australia don't have the same policies. Maybe as those lines become more common and popular, Carnival will be forced to reevaluate the way they treat us Aussies.

 

 

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[jennyau]

I'm sure you'll have a fabulous time regardless. So jealous you're on another cruise so soon, not a day goes by without son #1 mentioning cruising so I'm sure it'll be I the not too distant future.

 

A colleague just returned from a cruise on Carnival Spirit and she raved about it. It was her first so she didn't have the fabulous Radiance to compare her to though ;)

 

We are totally looking forward to it. It'll be very different this time. Just Kylie and me, no husbands or kids.

 

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[sun-set]

We are totally looking forward to it. It'll be very different this time. Just Kylie and me, no husbands or kids.

 

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What's wrong with husbands:p

[jennyau]

What's wrong with husbands:p

 

:D

 

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[The_Big_M]

I think you will find its the other way round. Carnival own P&O Australia. They also own the following..

 

AIDA Cruises, Germany

Carnival Cruise Lines, United States

Costa Cruises, Italy

Cunard Line, United Kingdom

Holland America Line, United States

Ibero Cruises, Spain

P&O Cruises, United Kingdom

P&O Cruises Australia, Australia

Princess Cruises, United States

Seabourn Cruise Line, United States

 

The lineage is a bit more complicated than that. Carnival Cruise lines in the US is the overall parent, but P&O Aus and Carnival Aus are both operated locally, rather than reporting independently to the US parent, and have the same CEO (Ann Sherry). They are closely related sub-brands of Carnival Australia, as with the local operations of Princess for example.

 

You actually need to separate the branded operations of local ships, from the global brands in the list above.